Seanad debates
Thursday, 5 March 2015
Commencement Matters
Local Government Reform
10:30 am
Paul Bradford (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State, who is from Tipperary. It is the Minister from Tipperary who will make the final decision on the future of local government and the future of town councils. Some people say Irish Water will be the legacy of EU Commissioner Hogan but the legacy with which he will be most associated, and it will be negative unless there are changes, are the new structures of local government. There were elections to new local government structures in 2013 but those structures are a butchered, slimmed-down version of local democracy. The public spin was that we were going to manage local politics with fewer councillors so town councils were abolished and replaced by municipal districts. All of us have served on local authorities and all of us know the importance of localism to local government but we now have local authority areas which, in some cases, are 50, 60 or 70 miles long and that is not local government. The savings from abolishing town councillors, who were on modest stipends, were cancelled out by creating additional county councillors and it is already apparent in many of our huge municipal districts that the current structures are not working.
I am the first to recognise that town councils in some areas were not working well. There were five town councils in my former constituency of Cork East. Some worked very well but some less so and such a ratio would be replicated across the country. On the whole, though, in the past 100 years town councils were the first recourse of politics and representation for tens of thousands of our citizens. The person who walked up and down the main street of Cashel or Mallow always felt comfortable walking into the town hall to meet town council officials. Sometimes they met town councillors, whom they often met on a daily basis anyway because they generally worked around the town. There was great interaction between local politics and the local community.
I was very pleased to hear at the weekend from certain members of the Labour Party that consideration was being given to putting town councils back in place. We will have to plan it in a very strategic fashion. I have said to Senators down the years that if they went into the Oireachtas Library they would find the 1991 Barrington report on local government, which was accepted and agreed by virtually every political party at that time. It proposed the replacement of town councils across the country by district councils with general populations of between 25,000 and 30,000, small geographical areas where the councillor would be local to his or her constituents. That is one option, but new supercouncils, such as Cork County Council with 55 members, Dublin City Council with over 60 members and west Cork, which is 70 or 80 miles long and larger than most Dáil constituencies, are not local government.
There were difficulties with town councils, though some were excellent. Some of the larger towns in the country did not have town councils while some small towns had functioning town councils but we need to look afresh at the structure. It is nearly four years until the next local elections and we need to flag our intentions for local government at an early stage. At a time when we are lecturing Europe on the need to practise devolution of powers down to smaller countries and communities, in this country we have taken power away from small towns and communities and from local citizens.
I appreciate the fact that the Minister of State will not make the political call on this matter but he was aware of the great work done in Cashel, Tipperary, Carrick-on-Suir and other town councils in his constituency. I hope some serious consideration is being given to the question by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, and the Government and that it was not just a conference slogan. Nobody can blame the previous Minister for making the decision he made and if people in politics are wrong it is not a sin. Such decisions can be reversed. I hope we will look at local government in a meaningful fashion to restructure it to give the citizens of this country what they need and deserve.
Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Bradford for raising this issue and I acknowledge his contribution to local government and local government reform generally. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, who is otherwise engaged this morning.
It is over two years since the Government published the action programme for effective local government, which set out decisions for a range of measures to reform and strengthen local government structures, functions, funding, governance and operational arrangements. During that period, the focus has been directed at implementation of the extensive reform programme and progress has been swift.
The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, would like to make it clear that he will ensure that the fabric of local government and local democracy are fully intact and effective. He does not consider, however, that the re-introduction of the pre-reform configuration of town councils would be the correct approach. As the comments attributed recently to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, on this matter acknowledged, reform was needed in this area. In some ways the system that operated up to last June was a distortion of democracy. For example, 46% of all councillors represented only 14% of the population. Residents inside the old town boundaries had double votes at local elections, while the often large population resident in towns but outside outdated boundaries were not served by the town council at all. Indeed, many large centres of population had no sub-county municipality.
Town councils did achieve worthwhile results but their capacity was very limited. All the 80 town councils combined accounted for only 7% of local government activity and a significant number of them had no revenue-raising powers and no decision-making capacity in key areas such as housing, planning and roads. It was not feasible to extend the powers, resources and jurisdiction of the town councils without seriously undermining the county councils. Instead, a new integrated system of governance was introduced. Municipal districts now cover the entire territory of each county, reflecting European norms, removing outdated boundaries and ending the anomaly of small towns having municipal status and dual representation, while some larger centres and rural areas lacked any sub-county governance. As well as creating a more rational and comprehensive structural arrangement, the new system will result in more effective and community-focused decision making and implementation. Moreover, under the new arrangements, there is full integration of local authority resources across each county and elimination of duplication both in administrative and electoral terms. The status of the town is explicitly recognised in these new structures. The mayor is appointed by the relevant district, and the title of "Mayor" can only be used in this context.
An important benefit of the new system is a more appropriate assignment of local authority functions. The performance of different functions by members at county and district levels over time will result in greater effectiveness than the previous parallel town and county system, which involved a significant element of duplication. The division of functions between county and district levels has been determined on the basis of what is most relevant to each level. Local matters are to be dealt with at municipal district level, while those of wider strategic application are being decided at county level, without duplication between county and district jurisdictions.
It is important to bear in mind that we are in the very early stages of a reform process. The provisions of the 2014 Act only came into effect on 1 June 2014 and 2015 will be the first full year of the operation of structural and other significant changes in the local government system. However, it is essential to ensure that the new system is being operated effectively and as intended. The Minister has already emphasised to chief executives the importance of fully supporting the role of the elected members at municipal district level.Equally, the members must take full ownership of their powers and responsibilities in this area as well as for the other new governance powers such as the statutory audit committees, annual service delivery plans, management reports, approval of new local authority corporate plans and adoption of schedules of municipal district works by municipal district members. The structured training programme for councillors, which the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is supporting, will help to ensure elected members are well-equipped to perform their governance functions effectively.
The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, intends to have a review carried out on the operation of the new structures. In this context, the Department is reconvening a working group for engagement with the Association of Irish Local Government and a broadly based advisory group, both having played an important role in the local government reform process. The groups will give particular consideration to how the new governance arrangements are impacting on the towns and whether any adjustments are needed in light of experience to date, including civic aspects, such as the status of mayors of borough and municipal districts. Moreover, these groups will have an important input into strengthening the role of the local government sector in economic development and the particular role to be played by urban centres. The importance of the role to revitalise the economy of towns and their rural hinterlands has been emphasised in guidelines issued to local authorities by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, expects action in this regard to feature prominently in the local economic and community plans that authorities are developing. The experience of urban centres will be evaluated to ensure urban issues are being addressed effectively through the new structures.
The thrust of Government policy is to strengthen local government and foster the potential for improved subsidiarity, coherence and efficiency, resulting in greater value for money for the taxpayer and, ultimately, improving the services delivered for our citizens. The review that the Minister is initiating will provide a sound evidence base upon which to consider any further changes to local government and local democracy, structural or otherwise.
Paul Bradford (Independent)
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That there is no point in my shooting the messenger. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, is speaking on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. The script represents the biggest U-turn I have heard in a long time. Clear indications were given in print and oral interviews at the weekend that consideration was being given to having town councils restored.
I am keen to raise one point with the Minister of State, although I imagine he is very much aware of it given that he comes from a large geographical county. I wish to emphasise the importance of local government being local. The Minister of State remarked in his reply - the script was provided by the office of the Minister, Deputy Kelly - that there was an affinity among the people within municipal districts. The Minister of State should consider County Cork. He need not tell me that he could possibly believe people outside Charleville, on the Limerick border, have any sort of political or geographical affinity with the people of the parishes of Conna and Ballynoe, near Tallow, County Waterford, yet, they are part of a single municipal district. Certainly, I do not believe the people of Millstreet and the surrounding area have any political affinity to the Mallow municipal district in the centre. What about the areas in west Cork that are 60, 70 or 80 miles away? A former councillor, Dermot Sheehan, known to all of us through his father, remarked to me after the local elections that it would have been as easy for him to represent the congressional district of New York as the huge sprawling area where he had to contest the election. We have got it fundamentally wrong.
I find it ironic and I am sorry the Minister, Deputy Kelly, is not in the House. The politics of stitching up these municipal authorities last year into eight, nine and ten-seaters was to save the party that lost all the seats. That is the ultimate irony. Leaving aside politics, the people need good strong local democracy. The town councils were not perfect but they had and have a role to play. I hope that long before the next local elections there will be a serious dialogue again about the need to restore genuine real local government whereby local actually means local.
Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Senator Bradford instanced the people outside Charleville vis-à-visthe people near County Waterford, and I can understand that. That is a matter of the drawing of a boundary map. It is not an argument, however, to bring back local town councils.
I served on a local authority in Tipperary. The duplication between county and town councils was unbelievable, as was the waste of time and energy. Officials at county level would address one meeting in the morning and then go on to address the town council that same night. The amount of time taken up by officials was unbelievable and totally at variance with the delivery of services. This is about the delivery of service to the people. The purpose of local authorities is to deliver a better service.
Senator Bradford can signal what he likes but I have a real belief that what is happening in the new structures represents a major improvement on what was in place. For example, let us consider the towns of Cahir and Cashel, which are beside one another. Cahir was better served by South Tipperary County Council than Cashel. That is the truth. I have lived in Cashel and I have an office there and I know all about the duplication of services. There was a serious waste of money and resources.
I accept the point Senator Bradford makes about people living outside Charleville not knowing people near Waterford, and that it is difficult for one person to represent all of them. That is true and I take his point in that regard. However, going back to the old structures of town councils would be a backward step. I am not simply sticking to the script when I say that I would be totally opposed to going back there. I really believe it.
At the weekend, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, expressed his view, but that was a personal opinion. The Government opinion is to move forward with and protect what we have and then improve it. Senator Bradford is right in his views on the municipal areas and perhaps there could be an argument to cut in half the municipal areas, but the duplication of services and what we had in the past represented a great waste and we should not go back to it.
Paul Bradford (Independent)
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I fully agree.
Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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We should not even contemplate it. It cost ratepayers vast sums of money. They are taxpayers, the paying public. Businesses were closing left, right and centre because of the costly rates they were paying. We need to move away from that. There is a view within Government of the need to try to bring down the cost of rates to encourage people. This is a way of doing that and of making local government more effective for the people.